BEIRUT / ISTANBUL

Nearly 400 Syrian refugees left Lebanon on Thursday and returned to their villages as part of the ninth phase of the country’s voluntary return plan, according to Lebanese media.

The departure was supervised by Lebanon’s General Security Directorate in coordination with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Lebanese Red Cross.

Convoys of refugees and trucks carrying household belongings set out from Beirut and several other areas toward the Al-Masnaa border crossing, where roughly 400 people crossed into Syria, local outlets reported.

The General Security Directorate said in a statement that it organized “the ninth phase of the regulated return of Syrian refugees from Lebanon to their country,” noting that the group departed from Camille Chamoun Sports City in Beirut through the Al-Masnaa crossing, in coordination with Syrian security authorities.

Lebanon’s government announced in June a new multi-stage plan to return Syrians, including organized and unorganized returns.

Lebanese estimates put the number of Syrian refugees in the country at about 1.8 million, including around 880,000 registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Earlier, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said he expects most Syrians living abroad to return within the next two years.

Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia last December, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963. A new transitional administration led by Sharaa was formed in January.